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Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Release Day Review ~ Cold Shadow by Mercy Celeste

Special Agent Drew Walker thought he'd never return to Tennessee after that horrific Christmas. Two and a half years later, a serial killer with a strange fascination with mutilation drags him into Nathan Truman’s jurisdiction once again.

For Nathan Truman having the ‘Feeb’ around dredges up a past, he would prefer to forget. For nearly three years, he’s been able to put it all behind him and focus on his career, family, and Quinn.

The past few years have done Quinn Anders a world of good. He’s happy, healthy, sober, and raising his daughter with the love of his life.

As the days pass and tensions flare it becomes obvious that the events of that night, all those years ago, never truly ended for one of them.

The secrets and lies that bind the three may just destroy them all.Sequel to In from the Cold: Must be read in order.

Warnings: This is not a romance. It is a MMM menage. Contains graphic violence and scenes readers may find triggering.

4.5 Stars!!!

Cold Shadow is book 2 in the Cold Country series, while it features the same couple that book 1, it can be read as a standalone, which is what I did, btw. Mercy Celeste offers a lot of background info regarding what happened in In From The Cold and I didn't feel too lost, although I will go and get book 1 and read it to see how it all started.

This is a very dark read and definitely not for the faint of heart. There are some pretty gory scenes, but if you're a fan of Criminal Minds like me, it's not much grittier than what we see there, at least where the case is concerned, the rest is a bit more, ahem, adult than the show. LOL

These three men are very broken. Quinn, Nate and Drew are all plagued by the nightmares of Nate's abduction. Nate is dealing with the physical and emotional scars from his ordeal, Drew feels guilty he didn't do enough and that Nate was kidnapped because of that and Quinn is also battling with the ghosts of his troubled past. This is not a romance, it's raw, intense, passionate, dark and their scenes together reflect the inner struggles they are all going through.

I'm not that much of a fan of menage, especially when there's an established couple who adds a third person. However, in this case, not having read book 1 beforehand might have actually worked in my favor. I wasn't invested in Quinn and Nate's relationship, and I could see the UST between Nate and Drew from the start of the book, so it wasn't that much of a stretch to see them working their way into having a threesome. I have to admit, though, that I didn't feel the same connection between Drew and Quinn that I felt for Nate and Drew, and while, the sex scenes were undeniably hot, it was just that, sex, even if there were mentions of love between them.

I loved Nate and Drew, I think they were great characters, both individually and together. I liked Quinn, but he was definitely darker. Going through Nate's kidnapping and surviving it all together, created a bond between them, but they still need to work on their issues, if this relationship has any chance of working.

All in all, I can't stress enough that this is a dark book, the thriller/suspense part of it could be triggering for some readers, same as the mentions of what Nate went through during his captivity, so tread with care. Still, even if it wasn't the easiest of reads, I just couldn't put it down until I finished. I just had to find out how it all would play out. It doesn't end up in a cliffhanger, but it isn't quite a HFN, so now I just hope book 3 won't take too long to be released to see how it will conclude. ;)